I'm a recent convert to Skype (www.skype.com), but even though I've only been using it for a short time I've discovered all sorts of things of which many regular Skype users seem to be unaware.

If you are already a user of Skype you probably think that everyone in the world knows what it is. If so you are wrong – a lot of folks out there don’t have a clue. So just to make sure that we're all tap-dancing to the same drum beat, let me start off by saying that Skype is an application that you can download onto your computer for free. Once you have this application – and assuming you have a connection to the Internet – you can use it to send instant messages and have voice and video calls to anyone else on Skype.

The interesting thing is that Skype is actually capable of doing all sorts of useful things ... but many regular users I've chatted to are unaware of all of its capabilities, so I thought I'd share a few of the things I've discovered (if you have any other interesting nuggets of knowledge regarding Skype, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and I'll share them in a future blog ... or you can just add them to a review of this blog, of course).

Now the first point is something I'm rather embarrassed about. I only joined Skype a couple of months ago because I was scheduled to have a conference call with a guy in India and he said that his phone service was unreliable but that Skype worked great, so that's when I took the plunge and got myself a Skype account.

The first thing I did was to go down to Radio Shack and pick up a cheap ($10.00) headset – you know, a microphone- headphone combo type thing. Everything worked great. Then, just a few days ago as I pen these words, I saw that a friend was trying to call me on Skype ... so I clicked the "Accept" button but then realized that I'd left my headset at home.

So I used my office phone to call my friend on his cell phone to tell him that I couldn’t use Skype – and he replied that he could hear me both on his cell phone and on his Skype headset. What a plonker I am ... it simply hadn’t struck me that my PC has an inbuilt microphone and loudspeaker, which means I don’t need a headset at all – give me strength! (Actually a headset works much better, but it's nice to know that I can get by without one if necessary.)

Sharing your Screen
But enough about my stupidity... did you know that you can use Skype to share your screen with whomever you are chatting? All you have to do is click the little arrow associated with the "Share" button located above the message box and you are presented with the option to share your full screen or just a portion thereof.

Observe the "Share" link above the Skype message window

Sending a File
Or suppose that you want to send someone a file while you're chatting. In that case you can simply drag-and-drop it from a folder into the Skype message box and the other person on the call will receive a prompt saying that you are sending them a file (they click on this prompt to complete the download).

Setting up a Multi-Way Conference Call (up to 25 people)
If you've already saved a group in your contacts and want to call that group, all you have to do is click on the group in your Contact list and then click the green Call Group button.

Alternatively, you can also start a conference call by calling a person you want to talk to from your contact list, and then clicking the Add people button at the top right of the screen to include others.

Last but not least, if you happen to be on a MAC (hey, it could happen), then you can initiate a conference call using the Call > Start Conference Call command.

I tell you, although the capabilities I've just described may appear to be simple, they are actually really, REALLY useful. As always, I'd love to hear back from you ... especially if you found any of this to be of interest – cheers -- Max

Click Here to see more Cool Beans, Non-Cool-Beans, Amazing Beans, Weird Beans, Funny Beans, and Thought-Provoking Beans blogs.